(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN Democrats and Republicans in Congress is that Democrats come
prepared for combat. Republican leaders had no coordinated strategy for dealing with the Cox Committee report about the
loss of defense secrets to China. But Democrats were ready to pounce. As the committee's study was hitting the streets,
members of the Clinton Party were distributing a five-page "analysis" that argued: 1) the Chinese have been spying on us for
years, 2) intelligence experts suspected the loss of nuclear secrets in the Reagan and Bush years, and 3) Bill Clinton, unlike
Reagan or Bush, took action against Sino-espionage.

The broadside illustrates the way in which the Democratic Party has mastered the art of political warfare at the cost of
its soul. There are few apt parallels between the Clinton presidency and any of its predecessors, especially when it comes to
defending national security.

Espionage happens. But what distinguishes the present presidential crew is that it virtually invited foreign governments to
nab our most vital defense secrets.

George Bush proposed lifting some export controls on China, but Clinton gave away
the store. He stripped the departments of Defense and State of the power to veto the transfer of sensitive ideas or
technologies and let the Department of Commerce decide what we should and shouldn't sell. He stood by as former Energy
Secretary Hazel O'Leary discarded the security safeguards employed by previous administrations, including background
checks on foreign scientists who visit and work in our nuclear labs.

This is the equivalent of sending the sheriff away from Dodge City, and it is just the beginning. In its quest to conduct a
never-ending presidential campaign, the president granted top-secret clearance to former Lippo Group executive John
Huang, even though the Secret Service never conducted a background check on the fellow. Huang received dozens of CIA
briefings about China -- and often placed phone calls to Beijing within minutes of the intelligence lectures.

The president warmly greeted influence-broker Johnny Chung, who met with the Chinese general responsible for
acquiring Western weaponry and received hundreds of thousands of dollars, along with instructions to spend it on
Democratic campaigns. The orders reportedly had been approved by Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin.

Significantly, there is
no evidence of treason here. Beijing liked Bill Clinton not because he was a traitor, but because he was easy.

In time, our spies began to suspect that something was amiss. They briefed the National Security team three years ago.
According to some reports, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger kept the president in the dark about the scandal until
after the 1996 elections, and it is unclear how much information he shared with his boss in the intervening months.

Only after the press began describing the nature and extent of the breach did the president issue a directive ordering the
Energy Department to restore some of the security measures employed in previous administrations. In the meantime, Berger
lied to Congress about what the president knew and when -- and the president lied to the press, saying as late as March of
this year that nobody had ever told him of security lapses during his own tenure in office.

The administration also strong-armed potential whistleblowers, including Notra Trulock at the Department of Energy
and Dr. Peter Leitner at the Department of Defense, possibly in violation of federal law. Meanwhile, committee sources say
the president's team wanted to black out passages that exposed the incompetence of key officials at the departments of
Justice, Energy and Commerce.

One wonders wistfully how much better off we would be if the administration were as
efficient at keeping secrets from the Chinese as it is at keeping the truth from the public -- or as determined to assess
responsibility as it is to evade blame.

It is important to remember several things: It will take China a few years to develop or deploy what it has stolen -- we
have time to adjust policies accordingly. Furthermore, we have no choice but to remain economically engaged with the
world's most populous nation.

Ironically, the Democratic strategy of denial obstructs progress by deepening distrust between the two powers,
hastening an arms race and strengthening anti-trade factions in Congress. This trades short-term political gain for long-term
national security.

Here's the simple truth: Team Clinton messed up -- and unless Congress and the White House act quickly
to tally the damage and make amends, there will be more bad news to
come.